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Starting this week, hundreds of state legislators from across the country will begin visiting classrooms to kick off the 16th annual “America’s Legislators Back to School Program.”

Sponsored by the National Conference of State Legislatures, this event initially lasted just one day but now extends through much of the school year. While most students tour the state Capitol at least once, often during a field trip in elementary school, this program brings state government to them.

Anew field called “Nutrigenomics”is devoted to the study of the effects of foods on genetic behavior. By analyzing how different foods interact with specific genes, researchers have confirmed that the food you eat directly influences the metabolic programming of your cells.

When we moved to Florida from California 23 years ago, we did so with only the things we could fit into two vehicles.

That meant getting rid of 15 years’ worth of possessions to start over, which was both sad and exciting.

I especially hated parting with the coffee table my husband had accidentally autographed. He tends to write hard and had been signing checks. After that, at a certain angle you could see a half-dozen “Barry Kennedy” indentations in the table top.

On Aug. 27, the Trimble CARES Coalition met at the Trimble County Extension Office. During the meeting Director Denise Hall and Seven Counties Prevention Specialist Patty Gregory shared resources and data that they received while at the CADCA training this summer.

By Jason Alderman
Talk about good news wrapped in bad: In the midst of grieving the loss of a loved one, you learn that you were named beneficiary of their 401(k) plan. Chances are you’ve got too much on your mind to make any sudden decisions about what to do with the money.
However, don’t procrastinate too long. The IRS has ironclad rules, deadlines and penalties concerning inherited retirement accounts, which vary depending on what type of account it is. This column discusses inherited 401(k) and similar employer-provided plans.

Although I personally don’t get the fascination with running races through mud, these days lots of people do.
A few years ago, my two daughters did a mud race together. My oldest daughter, Alison, said the obstacles freaked her out and she doesn’t like climbing cargo nets and was leery of leaping over fire.
“Otherwise, the mud was fun,” she said. “Once you commit to being muddy and know you’re going to feel gross and will be cleaning mud out of your ears for weeks after, it’s just plain fun.”

There is a saying that the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, and the second best time is now.
Earlier this spring, state leaders joined with local Scouting organizations and utility companies to begin bringing that saying to life, and to do it in a way no other state has ever attempted. Their long-term goal, known as “Kentucky’s 20/20 Vision for Reforestation,” is to plant 20 million seedlings over the next 20 years.

Do you ever feel like you are on your last nerve and dragging through your daily activities with low energy? You may have stages of adrenal exhaustion. Weakened adrenals effect hormones since the adrenals are involved in balancing the hormones. Men and women need a regulated amount of estrogen and a balance of estrogen and progesterone. Most of the estrogen is produced by the ovaries before menopause and later by the adrenals, so healthy adrenal function is especially needed to keep the hormones regulated in older women.

Somewhere in central Florida, Jesus is in a tree.
Shortly before Easter, a woman called the newsroom and left me a message about a tree in her yard and how she can see Jesus in it.
I had taken the week after Easter off, and by the time I returned to work I had lost the woman’s number and forgot about Jesus in her tree.
But I remembered this week when I came across a Christianity Today report, “Why Everything Looks Like Jesus” – the face of Jesus in a piece of toast or in a cloud, a slab of marble, a slice of pizza.

Memorial Day may be the unofficial kick-off to summer, but as we ready for the upcoming holiday weekend, it is vital that we never forget it is much more than that. It is also a time when we as a nation pause to mourn and to reflect upon those men and women who paid the ultimate price defending our freedom.
The holiday is nearing its 150th anniversary, and given that it came about in the wake of the Civil War, it seems appropriate that there is still some debate between the North and South about its exact origin.